I don't have a lot of time to write tonight, but since ptowncoug3012 asked for it, here's a very quick look at tomorrow night's opponent, Canisius (click on the "Wide" link on the left if you can't see the whole chart, and special thanks to kenpom.com for the data):
| Offense | Defense | |||||||||||||
| Date | Opponent | Result | Site | Pace | Eff. | eFG% | TO% | OR% | FTR | Eff. | eFG% | TO% | OR% | FTR |
| Sat Nov 15 | Akron (s) (sr) | L, 56-46 | A | 65 | 70.7 | 41.7 | 44.6 | 47.6 | 13 | 86 | 41.7 | 15.4 | 24.7 | 20 |
| Tue Nov 18 | Buffalo (s) (sr) | L, 69-64 | H | 71 | 90.2 | 40.2 | 22.6 | 29.2 | 41 | 97 | 48.3 | 21.1 | 38.2 | 40 |
| Sat Nov 22 | Long Island (s) (sr) | W, 76-63 | H | 73 | 104 | 51.9 | 17.7 | 29.6 | 63 | 86 | 39.3 | 16.3 | 22.2 | 57 |
Without digging at all deep into the Griffs, this suggests a few things right off the top:
- Canisius prefers a higher pace of play -- which, of course, the Griffins aren't going to get. The lone game played at a slow pace (Akron) resulted in their worst offensive performance of the year, which was marked by a ridiculously high percentage of turnovers. This suggests halfcourt execution might be an issue.
- They've played some decent defense so far, albeit against competition that's nowhere near what they'll face tomorrow night.
- This isn't a great shooting team. Forty percent eFG% is really, really low -- yet Canisius has two games in that ballpark. Even the third game, the Griffs' lone win, was pretty average at 51.9.
- You can chalk up their above-average efficiency against Long Island to that absurdly high free throw rate. Here's to betting they can't get anywhere near that kind of production from the line against the Cougs.
All in all, it's pretty evident this is yet another blowout waiting to happen before heading to New Jersey.